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LSDempire
LibertarianEnforcer
Registered: 04/23/05
Posts: 581
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
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Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena?
#4594396 - 08/29/05 07:35 AM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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The war on drugs is a dangerous political war on civilians. The war on drugs is political and should be our number one concern. Why cant we talk about this corrupt political event in the political arena?
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E8Kruesler
Stranger
Registered: 08/28/05
Posts: 3
Last seen: 18 years, 6 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: LSDempire]
#4594547 - 08/29/05 09:42 AM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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"Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena?" I love this question--I hate the circumstances that prompted this question. I think it's because of our Puritanical culture in which we are constrained to discuss pleasure as an end-in-itself. But even that doesn't seem to explain the situation correctly. We tried to prohibit alcohol, then realized that wasn't a good idea. Does it have something to do with cheap black labor? Let's look at the 13th: Thirteenth Amendment - Slavery And Involuntary Servitude Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. What I put into italics is an extension of the Black Codes that came into effect under the Andrew Johnson Administration. But I'm not satisfied with that explanation either. True, blacks are overrepresented in the prison system because of the drug war, but I don't know how much value their labor contributes to the prison system, the state or to corporations who may use their labor in prison. The problem I have is why on earth don't we hear from the Congressional Black Caucus? Rev. Jesse Jackson is still in favor of the drug war. Here in Minnesota there is not one black minister who is speaking out against the drug war--which is supposed to be racist. We have one black State Representative, Keith Ellison. (Incidentally, I reserve the phrase "African-American" for naturalized Africans. Besides, we rarely refer to white Americans as European-Americans.) I have not run across any news reports of Mr. Ellison advocating a public debate/discussion on the usefulness or harmfulness of the drug war--let alone publicly condemning the drug war as racist and very harmful to this nation as a whole. We don't hear anything along those lines from Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, nor, sadly, from Dr. John McWhorter. So, what we need to do is to find one or more black ministers, with tape/digital recorder in hand, and try to get an interview. If need be, hide the recorder. Okay, here's what I tried to do and failed miserably. I live here in Minneapolis, and represented by MN State Rep. Joe Mullery and on the federal level, U.S. Rep. Martin Olav Sabo. Both Democrats and both absolutely non-responsive to the idea of legalizing drugs. They do talk about "crime and public safety." The names I use below are real people and who participated in the debate on federal drug policy which was open to the public and held in a large room traditionally used for public discussions. On May 9, 2001 I held the first debate on federal drug policy here in North Minneapolis. I had no trouble in finding a panel of those eager to discuss why all drugs should be legalized, but I had a devil of a time finding someone who would support the continuation of the drug war. After much phone calling, I found one woman from the Minnesota Family Council, a Ms. Jeanette McDougle. She came with equipment to give her standard lecture on the necessity of the drug war. I had to explain to the poor woman, early 60s, that her props were fine, but she must understand that this is a debate. Her remarks will be challenged by others well prepared to argue against her point of view. I, with some help, distributed about 3,500 flyers in my neighborhood--mostly African-American. I live in a poor section of Mpls. One black person showed up. Two white women showed up, thinking that representatives of the MPD would be here to make the drugs and drug dealers go away. And when they finally realized that we were talking about ending the drug war, they got up and left. The other nine people were brought in by the debaters on the side of legalization. Mr. Paul Bischke, of the Drug Policy Reform Group (St. Paul) sat with Ms. McDougle and asked her several times why she supports black market activities in residential neighborhoods? Her response was that she didn't support black market activities, see, it was the responsibility of law enforcement to take drugs out of the community and, see, that would bring peace. I can see Ms. McDougle as a crusader in the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Ms. McDougle couldn't make the connection. The fact is, the demand for drugs is here and it's not going to go away any more than alcohol. And if people have money in their hands demanding products and services, there will be others willing to take any risk to deliver goods and services in exchange for your money. Going to prison for drug dealing is part of the job. Mr. Anderson, of the local community newspaper, NorthNews, took photographs and interviewed a few people. When the next issue came out, there was absolutely no mention made of the debate. Same for all the following monthly issues. Nothing. I wasn't merely disappointed in the fact that only one member of the African-American community showed up, in a Lutheran church with a racially-integrated congregation, with an East African preacher--I suffered a painful sense of hopelessness. As I sit here now, composing this communication, I can't fathom why the major victims of the drug war--black Americans--were non-responsive. I hope someone can give me some insight. I invited MN Rep. Joe Mullery to the debate. At the time, Mr. Mullery was not my representative, but since then, political boundaries were re-drawn, and now he is. But this was Mr. Mullery's letter to me:
April 17, 2001 Dear (E8KRUESLER) I received your letter about the federal drug policy forum.
I will not be able to go to the forum. I have commitments for my legislative work at that time.
I am certainly not an expert on drug policy. Moreover, I definitely do not have time to become an expert on it. I am extremely busy working on issues which most of my constituents believe are important for our district and which I can do something about.
I know there are some people who believe that legalizing drugs would end most violence. Others believe it would not lessen violence and would cause other problems.
The people in our district are strongly opposed to legalizing drugs. Even if we wanted to legalize drugs, it would have to be done by the federal government. Their laws prevail over ours.
At this point in time, the people of Minnesota are extremely opposed to legalized drugs. I don't think the Congressmen and Congresswoman from Minnesota would be likely to vote to legalize drugs. Moreover, it would have to get strong support from all over the country.
Sincerely,
I have more to say, but this should start the conversation. I look forward to your responses. --E8Kruesler
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KingOftheThing
the cool fool
Registered: 11/17/02
Posts: 27,397
Loc: USA
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: LSDempire]
#4594614 - 08/29/05 10:12 AM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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dude you are talking about it in the politics forum, this is just a subforum...to keep things more organized..if anything this shows how much the admins/mods are against the drug war, they gave it a forum of its own
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LSDempire
LibertarianEnforcer
Registered: 04/23/05
Posts: 581
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: KingOftheThing]
#4594894 - 08/29/05 11:43 AM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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Why don't they give everything its own sub forum: Nazism, Communism, Bush, Iran, China, Rwanda, and every other political topic could have its own sub forum. It would keep things very organized.
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Phred
Fred's son
Registered: 10/18/00
Posts: 12,949
Loc: Dominican Republic
Last seen: 9 years, 2 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: KingOftheThing]
#4595568 - 08/29/05 04:03 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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KOtT nails it precisely on the head.
The fact of the matter is that there are far more Shroomery users interested in discussing the War on Drugs and interested in activism to combat it than are interested in general politics in general. A lot of people in the other forums don't care to visit the PA&L forum but do enjoy participating in a forum addresses their primary interest -- legalizing drugs.
Phred
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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: Phred]
#4596010 - 08/29/05 06:13 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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I vote that us PA&L'ers track down and assassinate Los_Pepes and LSDEmpire.
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zappaisgod
horrid asshole
Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 9 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: Phred]
#4596019 - 08/29/05 06:15 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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To keep LSDempire from hijacking every fucking thread in PAL into a moronic "kill everybody who won't let me get high rant." It doesn't seem to be working though. We could also use a Los Pepes forum too so we could ignore him as well.
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LSDempire
LibertarianEnforcer
Registered: 04/23/05
Posts: 581
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: Phred]
#4596484 - 08/29/05 08:25 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Phred said: KOtT nails it precisely on the head.
The fact of the matter is that there are far more Shroomery users interested in discussing the War on Drugs and interested in activism to combat it than are interested in general politics in general. A lot of people in the other forums don't care to visit the PA&L forum but do enjoy participating in a forum addresses their primary interest -- legalizing drugs.
Phred
So why don't you let them talk about legalizing drugs where and when the please? Why do we have to be confined to this sub-forum?
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LSDempire
LibertarianEnforcer
Registered: 04/23/05
Posts: 581
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: RandalFlagg]
#4596495 - 08/29/05 08:27 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
RandalFlagg said: I vote that us PA&L'ers track down and assassinate Los_Pepes and LSDEmpire.
I vote we track down and assassinate RandalFag.
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LSDempire
LibertarianEnforcer
Registered: 04/23/05
Posts: 581
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: zappaisgod]
#4596500 - 08/29/05 08:28 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
zappaisgod said: To keep LSDempire from hijacking every fucking thread in PAL into a moronic "kill everybody who won't let me get high rant." It doesn't seem to be working though. We could also use a Los Pepes forum too so we could ignore him as well.
Or we could ban you, that way you could stop hijacking every fucking thread.
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Rono
DSYSB since '01
Registered: 01/25/01
Posts: 16,259
Loc: Calgary, Alberta
Last seen: 1 year, 29 days
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: LSDempire]
#4596503 - 08/29/05 08:29 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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I vote that we keep the thread on topic...
-------------------- "Life has never been weird enough for my liking"
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LSDempire
LibertarianEnforcer
Registered: 04/23/05
Posts: 581
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: Rono]
#4596972 - 08/29/05 09:58 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rono said: I vote that we keep the thread on topic...
I agree.
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JesusChrist
Son Of God
Registered: 02/19/04
Posts: 1,459
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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Re: Why can't we talk about the political war on drugs in the political arena? [Re: LSDempire]
#4597152 - 08/29/05 10:33 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
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I think Mr. Empire hijacks the entire PAL board and I for one do not appreciate it.
And I hate the war on drugs. I am sick of his act. To keep the post on topic, I want drug war related posts relegated to this forum so that I never have to read him again when checking in on the gang.
-------------------- Tastes just like chicken
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